Democratic incumbent Stephen Ludwig declared victory over Brian Davidson on Wednesday afternoon for an at-large position on the University of Colorado's Board of Regents.

The tight race was a rematch of 2006, when Ludwig, a corporate communications professional, narrowly defeated Davidson, who is a faculty anesthesiologist at CU's medical campus. That year, it took three weeks for the vote to be finalized.

At 3:30 p.m., with 90 percent of all Colorado precincts reporting, Ludwig held a 51,334-vote lead over Davidson.

Ludwig said that while votes still were being counted, there were not enough outstanding ballots to alter the outcome.

Ludwig received 47.1 percent of the vote to Davidson's 44.8 percent.

Other candidates in the race were Libertarian Daniel Ong, a part-time engineering student at CU, and Tyler Belmont, an 18-year-old high school student and the American Constitution Party candidate.

Davidson said it's reasonable for Ludwig's campaign to call the win at this point.

Ludwig said that higher education affordability will be a key focus as he moves into his second term.

"A big, key priority for me is working to assure we keep state funding for higher education," he said. "Also, how do we increase revenue streams without increasing tuition for students?"

Much of what the board does isn't partisan -- such as setting tuition and the university's budget. But there were some issues that the candidates were split along party lines on, including whether guns should be allowed on campus and if undocumented Colorado students should receive unsubsidized in-state tuition rates.

Ludwig has consistently opposed guns on campus and would like to extend lower tuition rates to qualified undocumented students, saying that to compete in a competitive economy, the state needs as many qualified students as possible earning degrees.

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